The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

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If the Stars Should Fall
In this penultimate chapter, the assault on Crom
Calamar begins. The Player Characters must
attempt to enter Crom Calamar and destroy the
tenebrium in the Darkspear, thus dispelling the dome of
darkness that hangs over the city.
Preparations for War
The background to the closing chapters of this stage of
the campaign cannot be planned out as definitely as the
others, as it depends upon the Player Characters’ actions
so far. They may only have the Phoenix Legions from the
Topaz Dominions as allies, with a desperate and almost
certainly suicidal battle ahead. Alternatively, the city of
Crom Calamar may be on the verge of liberation, with
the forces of several nations, backed by the ships of the
elves from Xoth Sarandi, ready to emerge through the
sea-portal (now that the kraken is gone) and land troops
on the southern shores; perhaps the Caldrazans and the
men of Ghael have finally set aside their differences
and are approaching from the northwest, with Aristeele
circling in the sky above. It all depends on how the
previous adventures have played out.
Information: The Drow Reinforcements
Reports from inside Crom Calamar tell of absurd
numbers of drow warriors emerging from the Darkspear,
far more than it could possibly have held when it first
rose. Evidently the drow are ascending from their
caverns through the Darkspear by magic or some other
means.
Although many thousands of soldiers are now in position,
the greater part of the drow force is still underground.
Their tunnels are far below Crom Calamar, deeper than
the deepest tombs or the mines of the Svarth dwarves.
When the Darkspear rose, disintegrating the rock
and earth in its path, it created a wide vertical shaft
connecting the tunnels of the drow to the upper world.
The drow planned for this for many years and so
included a cunning additional feature to make their
invasion easier. As the Darkspear ascended it rotated,
scything a gigantic spiral ramp into the rock walls of the
shaft, so the drow forces can now march up the sides of
the shaft and into the upper world. Although the march
from the drow caverns to the upper realms is easily ten
miles long, it is still far easier and more direct than any
other route.
As if this were not enough, the Darkspear also
incorporates a levitating platform in its base, by means
of which whole divisions of drow soldiers can ascend
the shaft in minutes. This is how they have entrenched
their position so swiftly.
The Darkspear is thus not just a magical transport vehicle
or a device to cloak a city in darkness; it is the gateway
that closes off the route to and from the underworld. In
creating this direct link, the drow have made themselves
vulnerable. The Darkspear is their protection as well as
their main means of attack.
Plot Event: Presentation of the Star-Wands
This event must take place before the Player Characters
leave for Crom Calamar.
The Conclave assembles for what you all know is likely
to be the last time. The elves have dressed themselves
formally in robes of office – a strange thing for people to
do whom you have perhaps come to see as friends. On
a tavern table, covered by a silk cloth, lie three simple
rods of glass. It seems strange that so much depends
upon these brittle, unremarkable things.
‘These are the star-wands,’ explains Archimandrus.
‘Each one can project a focused beam of energy, tuned
to exactly the right arcane frequency to disrupt the
tenebrium’s structure. The range is 80 feet, and each
one has ten charges…’ His voice trails off and he seems
unable to look you in the eye.
Cadfannan finishes for him. ‘Based on what we found
out, when we tested them on the chunks you brought
back, well… the tenebrium explodes with quite a bit
of force. To put it bluntly, if you’re in range to hit the
stuff with one of these, you’re more than in range of
the blast. Whichever one of you discharges the wand
into the tenebrium core at the top of that Darkspear of
theirs isn’t going to have a hope in hell of escaping the
explosion. And because this stuff is saturated with the
Dark, we can’t even be sure that your soul will survive.
There’s precious little that can destroy a soul, but this
could.
‘We’ve been able to reunite Starborn souls with their
bodies before, even when there was only a scrap of
flesh remaining. But we’ve never brought anyone back
Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8